oh yes, i remember very well the old sign painting days. I'm second generation sign painter...talk about learning from the ground up... my first brush was the BROOM....forget bucket trucks and cordless drills, premade background were unheard of. You made everything, wood frames, brackets, prime and paint. We never had a sign up before the store opened. it was two to three weeks for a belt sign. no sketches, emails or faxes. most of the time we drew on scrap paper or the back of business cards. If you showed up for a job ,the customer was so happy you got the job. We would install a sign downtown and always came back with another job from a neighboring business or passerby. same with truck lettering on site, always came back with another or sometimes do on site, we didn't always use patterns, we used patterns for repeat customers , not most jobs , we drew on the vehicle and boats. I would like to see what the sign business would be if computer never came about.....2 truck doors $500.....$600.00? van lettering?...$1200.00 oh well...I sound like the guys I would make fun of back in the day. I still enjoy making signs, but not doing the business end, too much BS in our industry with PO, insurance certs, W9 and general crap somebody with an art program ( who uses every function on the program with highlights, shades, outlines , clipart, colors with no contrast etc.)gives you. Mostly we take orders for signs I don't even like how they look...but thats business...we got to eat...
anyway thanks for the trip down memory lane....The Old Gray Mare.....